What I Offer
A variety of options to cater to your needs, all with the goal of supporting you in crafting a cohesive and strategically positioned application narrative
Program Options
All sessions are remote: a mix of Zoom meetings, phone calls and shared Google docs.
You are encouraged to take advantage of preseason rates and secure a slot in my schedule before the surge in the fall (you can choose to begin actual work with me at a later point).
Regardless of which option you choose, what you’ll receive is not just improved writing skills but also accountability and timeline management, emotional coaching, and a big-picture advisor who cares about your well-being throughout the often overwhelming process.
The Standard Package: The Common Application Essay and Activities Section
Most colleges and universities partner with the Common Application, which requires one 650-word essay. This is arguably your biggest chance to show the schools why they should accept you. Your grades, course load and activities from the first three years of high school can’t be changed, but the essay is where you now get to position yourself deliberately and use your own voice to show them how those years reflect who you are.
-
This comprehensive package offers guidance from beginning to end - brainstorming, drafting and revising until it’s as close to perfect as possible, and you proudly feel ready to submit.
I’ll take a good amount of time in the beginning to understand your entire academic profile, as a holistic review is necessary in order for me to best guide you in crafting deeply personalized writing and presenting yourself optimally. Through organic dialogue and rapport, I’ll help you uncover hidden formative experiences you may not even realize are meaningful, or identify pivotal emotional turning points that could serve as amazing concepts for your essay.
Once you have an idea of what to write and start your first draft, I will provide you with constructive feedback - detailed critique and suggestions on both the macro and micro level, until the final product is the best version of your own writing. As we go back and forth communicating continually, I’ll be offering you a live feedback loop on tone, clarity and organization as well as your angles and goals, adjusting direction in real time as you refine your voice across multiple drafts.
The Activities section of the Common App tends to get overlooked by applicants; it’s often the part they rush to finish up at the very last minute. This is unfortunate and ill-advised, as it is your résumé of how you’ve spent the many hours, weeks and months that make up your high school career. It should be immaculate - the order in which you list your activities (not chronological), the verb tenses, the punctuation - all in only 150 *characters* (not 150 words!).
I’ll help you maximize the (insanely) small space they give you in order to word your descriptions most effectively, showcasing your talents, passions and leadership. I’ll also comb through each and every line with you so that you don’t make the careless error of boasting about your “marital arts” skills. (Spell check doesn’t know that’s not a thing!)
Lastly, after considering your activities and experiences, I’ll help you determine whether or not it’d be advantageous to utilize the Additional Information section the Common App provides.
FLAT FEE for services provided for up to 3 months:
Preseason Rate (May-July): $1000
Regular Season Rate (August-October): $1150
The Deluxe Package: The Common App Essay, Activities Section and 1 School’s Supplements
Highly selective schools require their own supplemental questions in addition to the Common App essay. The word limit per essay can be anywhere between 150-500 words. Many schools ask for one to three essays; highly selective schools can ask for five to eight. Some admissions officers have gone on record saying that they place more value on these supplemental essays than on the Common App main essay, since these questions are unique to their institution and can demonstrate how much the applicant really wants to attend their school.
-
These pieces, therefore, need to be of the same excellent caliber as the personal statement - if not more - as they could be the very thing that takes you from a “yeah, maybe” to a “definitely, yes” in the eyes of the admissions team.
Whatever the school’s specific questions may be, I’ll advise you on choosing certain topics over others to truly supplement your main piece, in a way that avoids redundancy but still provides a consistent thread throughout your entire profile.
The Deluxe Package is ideal for students who are applying Early Action or Early Decision to their one dream school.
FLAT FEE for services provided for up to 4 months:
Preseason Rate (May-July): $1350
Regular Season Rate (August-October): $1500
The Premium Package: The Common App Essay, Activities Section and 4 Schools’ Supplements
-
See the “Learn More” section under The Standard Package and The Deluxe Package (above) for more details.
FLAT FEE for services provided for up to 5 months:
Preseason Rate (May-July): $2000
Regular Season Rate (August-October): $2150
Additional Supplements and Scholarship Essays
-
For returning clients only.
$350 per each additional school or scholarship application
The UC Package: University of California Personal Insight Questions and Activities Section
The UC system has its own set of essay prompts; they offer you eight options, you get to choose any four.
-
The limit for each PIQ is 350 words, so it’s more like a mini-essay (but an even better description would be a “written interview”); the idea is that four of these together would provide the admissions committee with pretty good insight into who you are. As of the ‘26-’27 admissions cycle, the UCs are still test-blind, so your writing pieces hold a lot of weight. The responses to the PIQs require a different tone and style from those of the Common App personal statement, where you have more room to more deeply tell a story and write creatively. I will advise you on how to decide which four are the best choices for you and how to answer each one distinctively in order to best present yourself as the well-rounded candidate you are. I’ll also help you carefully craft your Activities List, which allows you to list up to 20 (as opposed to only 10 for the Common App) and use up to 350 characters (as opposed to the crazy 150).
FLAT FEE for services provided for up to 3 months:
Preseason Rate (May-July): $1100
Regular Season Rate (August-October): $1250
Hourly
The hourly option is always available. After November 1st, I only accept hourly students.
-
For those who want à la carte services, you can pick and choose what part of the essay process you most need guidance on, whether it’s a brainstorming session to get started, or fine-tuning toward the final stages of your writing. Asynchronous editing is billed in quarter hour increments. A 2-hour minimum is required, with payment upon booking.
$160 per hour until November 30th
$170 per hour starting December 1st
$180 per hour starting January 1st
Ann Moon makes no guarantees, warranties or representations that any client/student will gain admission to any college or university. The responsibility for gaining admission to an educational institution rests solely with the client/student.
“Words can be like X-rays if you use them properly - they’ll go through anything. You read and you’re pierced.”